


ghost of lovers past

by kaatiekinss



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Drabble, F/M, S5 Speculation, Varchie!Centric, implied barchie, pretty much unedited too, there’s literally two lines that reference it so I didn’t use the rs tag, unbetad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28713564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaatiekinss/pseuds/kaatiekinss
Summary: He looks up as the bell on Pop’s door rings cheerfully, and suddenly, it’s 2017 again. Time slows down, his world shifts, and he’s struck with an inexplicable sense of deja vu.
Relationships: Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge
Kudos: 23





	ghost of lovers past

**Author's Note:**

> Idk man. I wrote this at like ten something in the morning because I got a sudden and persistent idea and inspiration.

He looks up as the bell on Pop’s door rings cheerfully, and suddenly, it’s 2017 again. Time slows down, his world shifts, and he’s struck with an inexplicable sense of deja vu. 

She walks back into his life the same way she entered it all those years ago; suddenly and unexpectedly but welcomed all the same. There’s a grace to her now, one that only a woman can have. But the girl he’d fallen for is there all the same; in the curve of her smile, and the wave of her hair. 

He and Betty had been holding hands across the table, fingers linked loosely. But as soon as he sees her, he pulls away. He doesn’t want to think about why. Betty looks confused and a bit hurt, green eyes wide, until she turns her head and sees who he’s looking at. 

She’s wearing the exact same thing as she was the very first time he saw her; purple dress, black cape, bright lipstick, pearls, dark nails, bag clutched in her hand. Sometimes he hates how vividly he remembers their first meeting; a constant and painful reminder of all he’d had...and all he’d lost. 

He vaguely registers Betty saying something to him, but her voice fades. He’s not even looking at her. Forgets she’s even there at all, that he’s supposed to love her. He only knows Veronica. Only wants Veronica. The fierce and ever-present longing that smolders in his heart, quieted long ago through sheer force, roars back to life tenfold. His arms ache to hold her, his hands to cup her face, his lips to kiss her breathless. Just as he once did, when she was his girl. Before— and then he remembers. He remembers everything. All that they’d been through, all they’d survived; only for him to destroy it all, everything they had built together. He remembers what he’d done, with Betty of all people, how he’d hurt her, how he destroyed the greatest thing in his life because he was scared and clinging to a childhood ripped away far too soon. 

The longing turns to poison in his chest, and bile rises in his throat as he recalls the devastated tears that ran down her cheeks, how her hands shook as she sobbed, and then how she’d grown cold; built all those walls he had so carefully deconstructed back up again, but higher now. Thicker, too. Impenetrable.

He can’t imagine what his face must look like. Probably like he’s seen a ghost. And in a way, he has. Those three years, simultaneously the best and worst of his life, haunt him. And she’s the star of both his dreams and his nightmares. The most beautiful phantom he’s ever seen. And Archie is plagued by spirits. Not of the supernatural kind, no, but of time gone by. Of remember when’s and one’s who got away.

He doesn’t realize he’s standing up. But that’s where he finds himself as she approaches him. The closer she gets, the more he can see the woman she’s become. Still stunning, still charming and other worldly, still the perfect picture of class and vintage elegance. But mature. Wise, even. Like she’s lived a lifetime in the last seven years since he broke her heart. 

She meets him in the middle of the aisle, and of all the things he expects her to do, giving him a smile is not one of them. He blinks once, twice, shocked and unsure of what to say. But dazzled by her all the same, the way one is by the sun; it lights him up and warms him, but if he looks too long or gets too close, he’ll burn. 

“Veronica.”

“Hello, Archie.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @aarchiess.


End file.
